Obviously sailing can be an expensive activity. Just like owning a car, there are some financial responsibilities that must be accepted in order to own a boat. However, do you think there is a risk of becoming too elitist if we reject owners out-of-hand who try to operate on a shoe string?

Not sure what you are asking here, but I have a paid for 25 footer that I am financially comfortable with. I can keep her in the water and make sure she is ship shape. I am on the water (when it’s not frozen) as often as possible, and I am content with that. If someone wants a bigger bucket that they can not afford to make safe and sound, I feel they are making a mistake.

dunno quite what you mean, i got a lot of parts during refit from salvaged hurricane boats for free... sound parts and what i didnt use i sold to buy other stuff... so this might be a shoestring, but doesnt seem to pose a risk to anyone... so do i get rejected? crap that happened last friday night too!!

I think there are plenty of elitist sailor types and I for one would never want anyone to think I was one of them! However, its like driving a car. You can have a beater that costs very little to own but so long as it is mechanically sound and the driver obeys safety rules and maintains any required financial responsibility- safe motoring.

Again with the boat/car analogy: I've seen plenty of owners of ridiculously expensive cars and boats that were not operating in a safe manner and they scare the bejeezus out of me!

It depends on what they're being shoestring about... if the areas they're skimping on put others at risk, like trying to keep an unattended boat in the water for an extended period of time without using a proper mooring, then yes...they should be rejected. It is one thing if they want to risk themselves... but it is another if they want to put other people and other people's property at risk.

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Telstar 28
New England

You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.

—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)

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The true Elitists have paid crews to take care of their Yachts... While the rest of us have to do the grunt maintenance work on our own sailboats. And I don't care if the varnish is perfect or not as long as the wood is protected.

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As others have said, so long as a sailor (elitist or shoestring) is not putting other property or persons at undue risk, I don't care how much or how little they spend to operate their vessel. A big part of what I enjoy about sailing is the freedom it gives me from modern society...the freedom of open water, the freedom to travel, the freedom to be.

While most boaters seem to have a great appreciation for nature and the water, we are ironically criticized as environmental hazards. Dumping human waste and garbage in the water, toxic chemicals used in marinas, and some don't even like the shoreline used for dockage.

That requires us to put our best foot forward at all times. The standard doesn't require bristol varnished showpieces, only that whatever you do doesn't cause trouble for you and then, indirectly, the rest of us.

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